Cruise ship narcotics bust just a symptom, actual disease is drug war facing India

Islamist terrorists snatching power in Kabul and a Bollywood superstar’s son arrested on a drug-soused cruise off the Mumbai coast look like unrelated headlines from different universes. But they are not.

India has long been ignoring a growing drug menace. It has not made laws tighter, has not conducted extensive raids on officials complicit in the trade and given them exemplary punishment. There has not been a systematic crackdown and flush-out.

Seeking revenge since the Narendra Modi government scrapped special status for Kashmir in 2019 and now with its proxy Taliban in the saddle in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s ISI has upped its activities to destabilise India. Narcotics is a crucial weapon in its war.

A couple of weeks ago, nearly 3,000 kg of heroin from Afghanistan worth about Rs 21,000 crore was seized at Gujarat’s Mundra port. The consignment of Afghan heroin was shipped from Bandar Abbas Port in Iran and reached India via Iran’s Bandar Abbas port.

Could such a massive consignment be headed for India from Afghanistan without the ISI or the Taliban’s knowledge? Quite unlikely.

A very serious accusation recently came from strange quarters. Speaking at a congregation in a Kottayam church in September, Bishop Mar Joseph Kallaranghatt said Catholic girls and youth were becoming victims of a “narcotics jihad”. He was cautioning those present about Kerala’s growing drug problem, its likely source, and total silence from the authorities who refused to touch the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s Muslim vote bank. Indian agencies have also intercepted drugs being pushed into Kerala from Lakshadweep.

Kerala, Punjab, Bengal, Gujarat, and north Kashmir have been ISI’s favourite drug transit routes. These drugs are then sent to each and every corner of the country, particularly targeting schools and colleges and places where youngsters hang out. Drug busts involving celebrities like Aryan Khan are unwitting advertisements of their might and reach.

So, while Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan and others arrested must be punished if found guilty, Indians should not go to sleep satiated by schadenfreude. Nor should they feel complacent at handing down sanskar or traditional moral values.

The children of each and every one of us, even those from very conservative families, are at real and immediate risk. Every neighbourhood has been breached. Most police stations are compromised. If the police are corrupt and on the take, the money is definitely reaching some of their political masters. Marijuana and hashish are now as common as cigarettes. MDMA, meth, LSD, and ecstasy are not difficult to procure either. The worst killers, heroine for the poor and its posh cousin cocaine for the rich, also stalk youngsters freely now. There are dealers around every school and college. Obviously, somebody — actually hundreds of people from border security guards to customs officers to vehicle inspectors to the local police — is not doing his or her job.

These silent enemies within are seldom raided. Even if a few of them get caught, they get away through some legal loophole or serving a few years. There is a strong case for India to introduce the death penalty as the maximum punishment for drug peddling. Those who don’t blink while poisoning and killing entire generations, don’t deserve to be kept alive to finish their job.

Filmmakers, actors, and musicians glorify or normalise drug use, making it seem “cool” and “rebellious”, making young minds wonder whether they are being dumb blobs on campus if they are not smoking up or snorting. After Aryan’s arrest, an old video of SRK has gone viral where the star is seen joking about allowing his child to do drugs and have sex. He obviously said it in jest, but coming from a popular culture icon of his stature, such stuff plays out entirely differently in youngsters’ minds.

That joke could be playing on his mind today. Or not. But Indian parents need to take the drug issue seriously and pressure elected representatives to act decisively.

Their children are directly at risk. More importantly, the nation is at risk. Because nothing good ever comes off drug money. It funds terror, buying out of government apparatus, sex trafficking, anti-national elements, and every evil one can imagine.

The powder has come off the cheeks of Bollywood make-believe and settled on civil society’s nose.